Charting a New Path

Can Gordon Brown preserve Britain's social
safety net while building an American-style business
culture?

By

Marc Champion

Updated Oct. 1, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

LONDON -- As a university student in the mid-1970s, Gordon Brown thought he knew the cure for the shortcomings of capitalism: Nationalize just about everything.

Nowadays, as Britain's finance minister (or chancellor of the exchequer, as he is formally known), the gruff Scot offers a radically different prescription: Learn from America how to foster entrepreneurial behavior.